Fruit and vegetable grading machine



y ,1930. G; s. HELENB'OLT 1,758,603

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GRADING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1925 YIJI Oberst.

PatenteclMay 13, 1930 mmummnwmm enonen s. HELENBOLT, or MIDDLEPORT, newironic, assronon TO inneana srnavnn & CI'IEMICAL CO.,.II\TC., 0FMIDDLEPOBT, NEW YQRK, A CQRPORATZOK YORK FRUIT AND vnonrannn sin-inane-MACHINE Application filed [august 7, 1825.

' My invention relates to improvements in grading machines, and moreparticularly to or substantially cylindrical rollers; the iirst'permittingonly a superficial inspection of the fruitor vegetables, andthe second being suitable only for fruit or vegetables having orapproaching a spherical form, since elongated or irregularly-shapedfruit or vegetables cannot, by means ofcylindrica l rollers, or rollersofapproximatelycylindrical form, he turned over to expose all surfacesthereof. Consequently fruit or vegetables of elongated or irregularformation are invariably graded by hand. i

The object of my-invention is to provide means within a-grading machinefor supporting, conveying, and simultaneously turning over, forinspection, fruit or vegetables of elongated or irregular formation, andparticularly for inspection-of potatoes.

Another object of my invention is to pro vide an endless conveyer ontowhich fruit or vegetables'are to be placed and carried along astraight-line course in a horizontal or an inclined plane, and to soconstruct the elements constituting theconvey'er that they willeffectually turn-over fruit or vegetables oi irregular formation. V 7

A still :further ob 'eot of my invention is to provide, in a gradingmachine, a conveyer having spaced endless chains-or carriers guic ed in:their travel and rotatablysupported non-cylindrical supporting elementsfor conveying and turning fruit or vegetables'while being conveyed.

Another ob ect of my invention is to provide, in a grading imachine, anendless cone veyer having-anendless series of spaced endsupportedrollers and a track on which POP",

Serial No. 4

tions of said rollers travel and cause rotation of the same; andiniproviding said rollers with non-cylindrical portions serv ng to sup-'po'rt,convey and turn the fruit orvegetables placed'thereon While beingcarried forward said conveyer. r r A still further ob]ect ofmy inventionis to provide, iii-a grading machine, a conveyor having an endlessseries of rotatably-support-- ed rollers provided along the ma orportion of its length with substantially square portions in crosssection. 7

With the above and other objects in view,

my invention consists in the novel features or construction and in thearrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter described andmore particularly pointed out in the subjoined claims. 1 A i In certaintypes of grading machines, or what are sometimes termed sizing machines,an endless--coiiveyer-fis provided at the receiving end'ol themachine,and by means of this conveyer fruit or vegetables are carried forward tothe grading or siz ng mechanism oi ithe jinachine, and in the drawings,-

Fig. l is a longitudinal section through such a conveyor constructed inaccordance with my invention.

'Fig. 2 is a; plan view of the same.

Fig; 3 is an enlarged transverse section ta en on line 3- 3, Fig. 1. 1

Fig. l is an enlarged horizontal section through-a portion of theconveyer taken on line ll Fig. 3, the frame work of the conveyer beingomitted. v

Fig. 5-is an'enlarged through a portion of the upper stretch of theconveyer showing the manner in which the fruit or.vegetablesupporting,conveying, and

turning elements are shaped in cross section undermy preferredarrangement.

Fig. 6, 7, 8 and 9, are transverse sections of modified forms ofsupporting, conveying, and turning elements, or rollers as they may betermed. I V

Having reference to the drawings in detail, the conveyor comprises asuitable frame work 10 supported from the floor or otherwise in anyapproved manner, and as conveyers of this type are invariably inclinedupwardly longitudinal section;

from their receiving ends, I have so illus- 7 the trated the same inFig. 1.

The frame work comprises two side members 11, 12, spaced apart, and eachis formed of a flat element, to the inner side of which two pairs ofsupporting tracks13, 14 are se cured. Above and .spacedfrom the upperpair of tracks 13 are retainer rails 15, these rail-sbeing alsoseouredto the inner sides of theflat elements of said side members. Theside members 11 and 12'are connected .--together at their lower edges bycross pieces 1a,

or in any other suitable manner, thus holding said side members inspaced relation and maintaining the supporting tracks of each pair inhorizontal orinclined alinement, as the case may be, and in properlyspaced relation. o .At one end of the frame a downwardlyinclined chuteor feed table17is provided, Said chute or table may form apart of ahopper into, which fruit or, vegetables are delivered, and by means ofwhich such fruit orvegetables are advanced onto the conveyer,

tobehereinafter de'scribed,lall of which,

however, is .common in the'art. to which this inventionrelates. p

' At each end of the frame work is a transversely-disposed shaft 18,.oneofwhich may ,be driven in any suitable manner and the otherbe idle or,ifdesired, said other may be utilized, for driving other parts of thegrading machine to which thisinvention is applied,,all of which I' layno claim toand make reference only to the same; for the purpose of moreclearly representing this invention.

' On each of the shafts ,18, two transverselyspaced sprocket wheels 19are secured, one in close proximity'to the flat element of each sidemembeia, ,These sprocket Wheels may therefore be said to be arranged inpairs, one of each pair being on each shaft 18 and being longitudinallyalined with each 7 other.

Around each pairof sprocket wheels, an endless chain 20 1s caused totravel,these chains being vertically-alined with the supporting tracks13, 14, the upper stretches of the two chains traveling above and beingspaced from upper supporting tracks 13 and the lower stretches travelingabove, and being spaced from the lower supporting tracks 14. Theseendless chains are of the conventional type,

except that at regular intervals, certain links of each chain areprovided with inwardlydirected cylindrical studs 21.

The conveyor includesmeans to support,

convey and turn fruit or vegetables, and this means is in the form ofelongated elements or. what may be termed rollers, 22, non-cylmi.drically shaped in cross section along their major portion, the ends ofthese elements or rollers being cylindrical, as at 23, and being adaptedto be supported by and travel in cone tact with the supporting rails 13and 14.

These elements or rollersare therefore ar-- endless chains are enteredin said bushings.

Therefore, when rotating one of the shafts 18 by any suitable means, thechain is caused to travel in an endless manner and owing to the factthat the elements or rollers 22 are rotatably mounted on the chain andthe cylindrical ends of these rollers travel in contact with thesupporting rails 13 and 14, said elements or rollers are caused torotate by the frictional contact with said tracks while travelingforwardly and serving as the upper stretch of the conveyer, and whentraveling rearwardly and serving as the lower stretch of the conveyor.These rollers, when traveling from the lower stretch to the upperstretch at one end of the conveyer, and from the upper stretch to thelower stretch at the other end of the conveyer, may be non-rotatable,since at these points no fruit or vegetable is supported by theconveyer; and although no fruit or vegetable is supported by the lowerstretch of conveyer, it is desirable to have the elements or rollers 24travel in con tact with the lower tracks 14 so as to maintain the lowerstretch in a straight line rather than have the same hanging between thesprocket wheels unsupported. The elongated elements or rollers, byreason of being rotated by frictional and rolling contact with thetracks, are continuously, but not positively, rotatable while formingpart of the straight-lined active or effective stretch of the conveyer.Each, therefore, is individually subjected to slippage on the tracks,which has been found very desirable when irregularly shaped fruit orvegetables are being conveyed thereby and turned over for inspection.Such slippage occurs continually and results in irregular rotation ofthe conveying and turning elements or rollers, and this is augmentedwhen an irregular shaped fruit or vegetable unit is being lowered orelevated from one element or roller to the other. Moreover, suchslippage is found absolutely necessary to avoid the squashing of fruitor vegetables which would occur with any positively driven elements orrollers The slippage ofthe rollers may occur only under certainconditions, and invariably is accompanied .by rotating movement of therollers,

although such movement might be slightly retarded by reason of slightslippage. In

"efiect, the rollers are therefore continuously tinues rotation.

inaining rollers, and owing to the fact that they are of non-cylindricalformation in ing in contact with adjacent rollers. By

making'the rollers non-cylindricaland preferably square in crosssection, corresponding sides of adjacent rollers may be differentlyinclined, or one may'have opposite sides vertical or horizontal, whilean adjacent or the adjacent rollers have all'sides at an inclination, asclearly shown in Figs; 1 and 5 thereby forming differently shaped anddifferent sizes of spaces between adjacent rollers. Consequently, fruitor vegetables delivered onto the upper stretch of the endless series ofrollers from the ch'ute 'or feeding table 17 are carried forwardly, andat'the same time tumbled by the rotary movement of the elements' orrollers 22, with the result that all sides of the fruit orvegetableswill be exposed for "examination during their travel,regardless of their being of regular shape, or whether elongated orirregularly formed; this being clearly illustrated in Fi g. 5 of thedrawings; Y

While I have used elements or rollers of various non-"cylindrical formsfor experimental purposes, square, or substantially square elements :orrollers having the corners cut away by rounding the same, have proved topossess advantages over any other type of non-cylindrical rollerexperimented with. However, non-cylindrical V rollers ofother crosssectional formations contain decidedad'va'ntages over the cylindricalform of roller, such as invariably used, and different types of theseare illustrated 1n F1gS.6 to '9, in which these elements or rollers areshown in cross section. Itis, however, highly essential that eachelongated element or roller has one -or :more elongated regions .projecting a considerably greater distance from its axis than otherelongated regions. F or example,an element or roller of this kind ofsubstantiallysquare f rma'tion,,such as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. has itssides'gradually recede toward its axis from each cut-away corner;

' thus the corners form outwardly-projecting,

elongated regions, and during the rotation of the elements or rollersserve to lift or lower oneend of a fruit or vegetable unit and setit onthe adjacent elements or rollers while turning over the fruitorvegetable; especially so when the fruitor vegetable offersslig'htresistance to the rotation of one or another element or roller andcauses one to slip slightly whilethe adjacent element or roller con-This invariably causes a complete turning over of the fruit orvegetables, and espeoially'sowhen the elementsor rollers are of squareformation in :crosssection and provide irregularspa'cesof decidedlydifferent shapes and sizes between the :el'ements or rollers, as-clearlyshown in Fig. .5.

The formation of "the element or roller shown in Fig.6 is substantiallythe same as that shown-in #the preferred construction, with theexception that the corners are chamfered, as a -t"26, and-while thisconstruction is fully as advantageous as the prefer-red constructionwhen conveying hardy fruitor vegetables not easily bruised, the flat, or

cham fered corners provided, seemingly create sharper angles which aremore likely to bruise delicate fruit or vegetables than the'rounded'corners shown in the preferred construction.

In Fig- 7 the element or roller 22 therein shown is of triangularformation in cross section, the angles or corners being rounded, as at27. This construction provides flat sides, as in the preferredconstructiona-and decided elongated proj ec-ting portions, which areessential to cause turningover-of-the fruit or vegetables.

In Fig. '8 a further modified form ofelement or roller is shown in-crosssection,-cliametrically-opposite portions thereof being convex, as at28, and between these convex portions, the element or roller is providedwith deep longitudinal grooves, as at '29.

This element or roller-may therefore be said to have two opposite convex-S1(leS"9;nd tWO opposlte concaved or grooved sides, the concavedport-ions merging into theflat portions by rounded parts 30.

In Fig. .9, the element-or roller-22 therein shown, is provided withdeep longitudinal grooves at four sides, as*at'31 ;-these grooves inreality forming fourlongitudinal ribs 32, the outer edges of which arerounded.

Various other forms of non-cylindrical elements or rollers -may bedesigned; and while all may be found suitable for the ,purpose intended,some may .possess'advantages over others. All, however, will fall fullywithin the scope of this invention, assetout in the subj oined claims.

It will'be noted that the cyl'indrical'ends of the elements orrollers'22 shown in Figs. 6 to 8, are of greater diameter than thetransverse dimension through certain parts of these rollers, but thismay be varied to suitv the user. It is, however, to be made clear thatin a conveyor of thistype, the rotation of the elementsor rollers 22'are not'to be too fast and therefore a roller having its cylindricalends of a definite diameter may result in such diameter being greaterthan the transverse dimension through-certain parts of a roller whensuch roller is of a certain cross sectional formation, while rollers ofother cross sectional formations may have all ;p arts intermediate itscylindrical ends of greater transverse'dimension or diameter than thediameter of the cylindrical ends.

At the distant or delivery end of the conveyer, fruit or vegetables aredelivered onto an inclined table or chute 33, and by this elementdirected to the grading or sizing mechanism of the machine, which may beof any desired construction since the grading or sizing mechanism formsno part of this invention.

-Havin g thus described my invention, what I Iv claim 1s ing machine, aconveyer comprising rollers,

and means adapted to support, convey, and simultaneously turnfruit orvegetables supported on said conveyer to display their various surfaces.for inspection and to permit of removalof any of the fruit or vegetablesby l1and,said means comprising individually and frietionally rotatableelements arranged in series in closely spaced relation to prevent thepassage of fruit or vegetables therebetween and each element being ofnon-cylindrical formation in cross section to turn over the fruitorvegetables for inspection.

'3. In a fruit or vegetable gradingor sizing machine, roller meansadapted to support,

convey, and simultaneously turn fruit or vegetables to displaytheirvarious surfaces for inspection and to permit of'removal of anyfruit or vegetables by hand, said roller means comprising a series ofindividually rotatable supporting elements connected in closelyspaced-apart relation to turn over the fruit or vegetables and toprevent the passage of fruit or vegetables therebetween, each of saidsupporting elements being of non-cylindrical formation in cross sectionto provide elongated projecting regions, at least along part thereof,and means to nonpositively rotate each supporting element as it travels;v

V 4. In ai fruit or vegetable grading or sizing machine, a fruit orvegetable conveyer, comprising an endless series of travelingspaced-apart frictionally rotatable rollers having cylindrical ends andnon-cylindrlcal intermediate portions with circumferentially spacedelongated projecting regions along each of said intermediate portions,said rol ers being closely spaced apart to prevent fruit or vegetablespassingtherebetween and acting during rotation return the fruit orvegeand mode of operation,

with said tracks and a non-cylindrical por tion between'said ends, saidrollers being rotated by frictional contact of the cylindrical endsthereof with said tracks but permitting slippage along said tracks underresistance and being carried in an endless course by said chains.

6. In a fruit or vegetable grading or sizing machine, an endlessconveyer including fruit or vegetable supporting, conveying, and turningmechanism, comprising spaced-apart supporting elements havingcylindrical ends and being of substantially square formation in crosssection between said ends with the corners thereof cut away, saidsupporting elements being arranged in close relation to turn over thefruit or vegetables for inspection and to prevent the passage of fruitor vegetables therebetween tracks in contact with which said cylindricalends travel to cause said rollers to rotate, and means to cause saidconveyer to travel through an endless course.

' 7. In a fruit or vegetable grading or sizing machine, a fruit orvegetable conveyer of the endlesstype comprising spaced-apart supportingelements of non-cylindrical formation in cross section, said supportingelements being closely spaced to prevent the passage of fruit orvegetables therebetween, means to a cause said conveyer to travelthrough an endless course, and means to cause said supporting elementstovrotate under friction permitting slippage while traveling along saidendless course. I

8. In a fruit or vegetable grading or sizing machine, a fruit orvegetable conveyer comprising spaced-apart side members having tracks ontheir inner sides, longitudinallyspaced transverse shafts supported insaid sides, sprocket wheels on said shafts arranged in pairs, an endlesschain traveling over each pair of sprocket wheels, roller supports forthe fruit or vegetable rotatably supported by said chains'and beingarranged in an endless series in closely spaced-apart relation toprevent the passage of fruit or vegetables therebetween, each rollersupport having cylindrical ends and a non-cylindrical portion betweensaid cylindrical ends providing spaced elongated projecting regions,said cylindrical ends traveling in contact with said tracks and beingrotated by the frictional contact therewith, means for delivering fruitor vegetables onto said conveyer, and means for receiving fruit orvegetables from said conveyer.

9. A fruit or vegetable grading machine having a conveyer formed ofspaced individually rotatable frictionally driven conveyer elementsarranged in close relation to prevent the passage of fruit or vegetablestherebetween, each conveyer element having at least a portion thereof ofnon-cylindrical formation in cross section providing spaced elongatedprojecting regions.

10. A fruit or vegetable grading machine having a conveyer formed ofindividually rotatable conveyer rolls spaced relatively to prevent thepassage of fruit or vegetables 2O therebetween, each conveyer r011 beingof substantially square formation in cross section along a regionbetween its end portions. 11. A fruit or vegetable grading machinehaving a conveyer formed of conveyer rolls I relatively disposed toprevent thepassage of fruit or vegetables therebetween, each conveyerroll having a portion between its ends provided with four fiat sides ofequal widths and cut away corners. In testimony whereof I affix mysignature.

GEORGE S. HELENBOLT.

